Brokerages Set Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Target Price at $51.14

Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $51.14.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com raised Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Lazard from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $56.00 price objective (up previously from $49.00) on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 target price for the company.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total transaction of $4,338,134.56. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,640,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,082,569.90. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Lazard news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total transaction of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at $74,679,058. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total value of $4,338,134.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,640,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,082,569.90. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 176,497 shares of company stock worth $8,658,086 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Lazard by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,678,365 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $447,103,000 after purchasing an additional 152,857 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Lazard by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,043,754 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $78,031,000 after buying an additional 79,889 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC bought a new stake in Lazard during the 1st quarter worth about $65,650,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Lazard by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 651,521 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,875,000 after acquiring an additional 44,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 19.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 481,406 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,370,000 after acquiring an additional 77,974 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $54.29 on Monday. Lazard has a 12 month low of $25.82 and a 12 month high of $54.57. The company has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a PE ratio of -155.11 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60. The business’s 50 day moving average is $48.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.34.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $685.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $625.40 million. Lazard had a net margin of 5.50% and a return on equity of 41.78%. Lazard’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.24 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Lazard will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -571.43%.

About Lazard

Lazard, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, shareholder, sovereign, geopolitical advisory, and other strategic advisory services, as well as restructuring and liability management, and capital raising and placement services.